Garden

Garden
Garden1

Friday, August 30, 2013

It's too hot to garden; it's too hot to even go outside. The wilting plants in my window boxes beg my attention however, so I venture out to give them a drink, needy little creatures that they are. I also set the sprinkler up to water the plants in pots. It's much easier than hauling the hose around to do it individually. The problem is that I sometimes forget to set the timer and end up watering for several hours! Once I walk back inside my attention is diverted to other chores. It really does prove that walking through a doorway can make you forget what you intend to do in the next room.
One other thing I've accomplished today is to put into words how this miserable heat is making me feel.

Summer Love

Summer,
like a beau I'd forgotten,
wraps his arms around me
when I venture outside.
His predecessor
was easier to love.
He spoiled me;
made me forget
what Summer's usually like.
He wooed me
with his sunny kisses
and the gentle breeze of his voice.
Now I'm stuck
with this bad boy
who makes me
loath to leave my house.

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Yesterday afternoon Terri Anne and I headed out to weed and trim. She didn't last as long as I did but she managed to lop off some of the dead flowers from my lamb's ear plants. She likes to use the long handled loppers and was asking if she could trim back the ivy growing over the path on one side of the garden. I didn't go along with that since I use my electric hedge trimmer for that bad boy job. Eventually she opted to go inside since she was getting hot. It really wasn't that hot and I barely broke a sweat the three hours I spent pulling out weeds and wandering perennials. Now all that's left to do is trim the ground cover behind the retaining wall around the pool deck.

Even though my thigh muscles were starting to hurt from bending over to work I was determined to finish the job. I finally resorted to bringing my portable bench out to sit on.

I'm hoping that the teensy little weeds I couldn't pull out don't grow too much before the birthday swim party Sat. afternoon. Even if they do the whole area looks so much better. I even re-hung the bird house and a couple of other things that had fallen off the garage wall. Said bird house had been occupied some time this summer since there were lots of feathers and nesting material that fell out of it when it hit the ground. The strange thing is that the feathers were quite large, the bird house entry hole is small and the only birds I've seen frequent the bird houses are tiny little brown ones. What I'm thinking is that they found the feathers and added them to their nests. Could you say birds of a feather, any feather, nest together?

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

My garden is growing in spite of me - the weeds and/or uppity perennials at any rate, no, at an alarming rate. We've had just enough rain to enable me to only have to haul out the hose and water the containers when their plants start to wilt. One that screams for attention is visible through my kitchen window: the lime colored sweet potato vine in my window boxes. It's kind of like that plant the boy ended up with after he traded his family's cow for some seeds. I'm loathe to trim it back as it's a testimony in part to whatever green hue my thumb might have.
Today I've informed Terri Anne that we will have to tackle some weeding and trimming projects before her birthday swim party on Saturday afternoon. She's got her own agenda which includes front and foremost our watching a DVD movie, Reckless Ralph. I haven't seen it so I'm content to spend an hour and a half doing that first.
But back to the garden, my pastor has asked us to submit writings about Creation and its various aspects. What came to me was a poem about how God pulled this off. Since it started in a garden, an ideal perfect place we never should have left I'll share it with you here.

In the Beginning. . .

The story is familiar
in whatever form we read or hear it.
Taken literally or figuratively
there's a progression that gives
it purpose; start with the basics,
do the ground work, add elements
to flesh it out like we have done
and do to this very day.
Yet we cannot create anything
from nothing, that's beyond us.
God's basic was chaos, utter disorder,
nothingness to be exact.
It took words from God
to bring it to fruition.
And later we learn it was
not just the words that God spoke
but the Word who was his son,
Jesus the Christ.

13 August 2013
by Terry Waggle 

Thursday, August 1, 2013

Last week Eva and I noticed a bird on my hummingbird feeder. I've seen quite a few hummingbirds and an occasional red headed woodpecker before. This one was different so I took its picture so we could refer to it while looking in my Missouri bird book. Bingo, it's a Downy Woodpecker. I've never had any other birds frequent the hummingbird feeder so I shouldn't have been surprised. I don't know what attracts them to it unless their little throats are all dried out with sawdust from pecking on my cedar siding. There are plenty of bird baths in my garden as well.
Just this morning I noticed another creature trying to hop back out of one. It was a small toad and after I took his picture I gave him a helping hand out. I try to post the picture later.